This JDM Toyota Hilux Surf, a close equivalent to a second-gen U.S.-spec 4Runner, is very cool looking. But I was only really compelled to share it because of that bizarre brush guard. Have you ever seen anything like it?
The Bring-A-Trailer listing that this truck’s posted on doesn’t go into detail about the origin of that particular accessory. But based on the fitment and Toyota emblem in the middle, I was pretty confident from the onset that this was a ’90s factory accessory.
A little cursory research dug up this video of somebody flipping through an old Hilux Surf brochure, and sure enough, you can see this thing listed at around the 05:47 mark. Unfortunately, I can’t read Japanese, but maybe one of you can translate the text around it so we can find out what this thing was called.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen a brush guard with a T-bracket as a centerpiece but I kind of dig it. The big yellow fog lights, of course, are excellent. It probably wouldn’t help you much in a collision (we call these guards “damage multipliers” in the off-road community because if they crash through anything heavier than grass, they tend to bend into the truck) but it sure does look sweet.